ArticlesNERSA Seeks Comment on Draft Licensing Exemption Notice

The National Energy Regulator (NERSA) seeks comment on a Draft Licensing Exemption and Registration Notice.

The energy department published the draft notice in Government Gazette 42456.

The Licensing Exemption and Registration Notice was first gazetted in 2017 amending Schedule II of the Electricity Regulation Act.

The draft notice introduces upper and lower thresholds for generation facilities that should register or be exempted from registering with NERSA, determines that stand-by generators and co-generation facilities should not register with NERSA and that electricity resellers are required to enter into a service level agreement with a licensed distributor to be able to supply electricity to any customer within a supply area of the distributor.

Last year draft amendments to the Licensing Exemption and Registration Notice were published for comment.

According to NERSA, the latest notice incorporates its comments on the proposed amendments.

Questions that NERSA would like stakeholders to focus on include whether mini-grids should also not be registered or licensed, what threshold could apply to mini-grids, should the 36 months of the demonstration plant be an uninterrupted period, should the electricity produced from waste or residual product have a maximum threshold and how should resellers charging more than the approved tariffs be regulated.